Rail vehicles can cause ballast to be thrown up as they travel on a ballasted section of track. In particular, in this context, stones can be carried out of the ballast bed as a result of, for example, air forces from the slipstream or else due to accumulations of ice dropping down in the winter. If these ballast stones have a sufficient height they mainly strike the underbody of the rail vehicle and strike the underbody and the parts of the vehicle underneath it, causing damage thereto. Since the ballast stone strikes generally occur only in the rear part of the rail vehicle and on the underside they are not noticed by the train driver.